Chapter 14 Cameron #2
Whether Natalie noticed or just felt uneasy about the entire experience, I wasn’t sure, but I felt her tighten again. A gentle squeeze of my hand on her thigh seemed to help, though, so I repeated it a second time, with a touch more pressure.
“Dr. London.” Mr. Keller’s voice had a monotone quality that I hated listening to. “We’ve talked quite a bit about Chloe. Let’s talk a little more about you.”
Natalie bristled a little but nodded.
I moved my thumb in a circle on her warm skin, a reassuring touch that I hoped she understood.
But she squeezed her legs together, like maybe she wanted me to stop, so I did, keeping my fingers still as Natalie answered a question about the medications she was currently taking as it pertained to her overall health, listing a prescription for generalized anxiety and birth control.
“Are you sexually active?” Mr. Keller followed up with.
“Objection, relevance,” I cut in. “Natalie, you don’t have to answer that.”
Natalie’s lips stayed sealed, her expression stony.
Good.
Natalie cited Korey’s need for control as one reason we were here, and I suspected she was right.
I often wondered if this was just a way for him to gain access to Natalie’s life again, steal glimpses of her that he no longer got and didn’t deserve.
He wanted back into her world, and even if he didn’t get it through custody, he’d get a taste through this process.
Unfortunately, a lot of that I couldn’t help. But sometimes, I could. There were some things Korey Abrams didn’t get to know, some things I could put my foot down on.
“She has to answer my non-privileged question,” Mr. Keller argued. “If there are new men being introduced into Chloe’s life—”
“It’s not relevant to a custody case,” I pushed back. “We have already determined that my client has not introduced new partners of any kind to her daughter.”
“But—”
“If you want an answer, you’ll have to get a judge to order it,” I said flatly.
Mr. Keller’s lips pulled in a thin line, and he shifted his attention to Natalie, lifting a brow at her. “No new partners of any kind?” he asked, looking for her verbal confirmation.
“That is correct,” she said.
And then she squeezed her legs together again. This time, it felt more like an urge, a request. So I slowly brushed my thumb in a new pattern, pressing my fingerprints into her skin. I hoped they stayed there, evidence that I’d once been between Natalie London’s legs.
When she didn’t stop me, I carved a path higher, tracing more of her inner thigh. Her legs parted, her knee pressing against mine again, telling me all I needed to know, telling me that she wanted me there, branding circles on her skin.
When I risked a glance over at her and noted her slightly flushed skin, I should have stopped. But her voice was steady as she answered the next question, and the top half of her body looked unchanged, her elbows still on the table, her hands remaining clasped, albeit a little tightly.
So I didn’t stop. I kept touching her.
I knew I shouldn’t be caressing Natalie in the middle of the deposition. I knew if someone caught us right now, it might mean I never got that promotion. Hell, it might even mean the end of my career. There were so many reasons I should stop touching her.
But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t deprive my client of something she wanted, something she encouraged with every shift of her body language.
I did hesitate when she squirmed the first time, wondering if I was being more distracting than helpful.
But then, similar to the leg squeezes, Natalie readjusted herself in her chair, a nudge.
And fuck, for that split second when I’d stopped, I’d missed the feeling of her smooth skin gliding beneath the pad of my thumb, missed the rhythmic connection, missed the spark of heat.
And Natalie’s light only dimmed when I hesitated, so I took that as a sign.
That maybe me touching her was what spurred her on.
Sure, we both knew she didn’t need my touch. But maybe she liked the idea that she was on camera, that her ex was going to see this, and all the while, she was being touched by another man in a way he never would get to again.
He might get access to this recording, but he’d never get access to her.
Fucking never.
I worked my hand beneath her skirt, wanting to feel more of her skin, needing my hand to palm more of her thigh possessively.
Natalie paused her sentence but played it off like she was just thinking of the right words, and I squeezed, a reminder to keep going. She picked up again where she left off without a hitch.
Good girl.
I kept my grip tight while she continued, thinking about how badly I wanted to feel the rest of her. All of her. How she admitted to wanting it, too. And then my brain wandered back to how she was considering inviting another man into her bedroom. A man who wasn’t me.
How the fuck was I supposed to let that happen now? How could I honestly just stand by and let Natalie slip through my fingertips? Doing nothing just wasn’t a goddamn option. Not anymore. Not when it involved the beautiful fucking woman next to me.
I drummed my fingers, feeling the heat of her core just inches from their tips.
I’d gone too far.
I should stop.
I couldn’t.
I didn’t.
I just stayed there, torturing her, torturing me.
“Okay, I think that’s it.”
I’d lost track of time, too concentrated on both making sure Keller didn’t ask any more inappropriate questions and on the feel of Natalie’s hot skin beneath my palm.
I had no idea how many minutes or hours had passed since the earlier break in the session, but the deposition was finally over.
Which was good. I only wished I’d realized it was about to be over because I would have withdrawn my hand from Natalie’s thigh much earlier in preparation.
Because Korey’s lawyer was about to stand.
He was going to stand, and the professional, polite thing to do would be for me to stand, too.
Shake his hand, all of that. And that would be great, fine, if it weren’t for the fact that certain parts of my body were already standing, or well on their way to standing, considering the inside of Natalie’s thigh was so fucking soft and warm and perfect and fuck.
I breathed in through my nose, willing myself to get a goddamn grip.
“Mr. Keller,” I said, needing to postpone this moment just a little longer. “Can you refresh my memory on the details of Mr. Abrams’ deposition?”
He gave me a funny look, which made sense, given that I had already sent over a confirmation email for Korey’s deposition…this morning.
But he answered me anyway. “Friday morning at nine o’clock.”
“Excellent.” I gave a curt nod. “I will plan on seeing you and your client then.”
The thought of being in the same room with Korey Abrams this week had the immediate effect on my body that I was looking for, and by the time that Keller stood to shake my hand and then Natalie’s, effectively ending the meeting, I managed to rise to meet him.
Without making it known that I had been, for a good portion of that meeting, irrationally turned on.
I would have felt worse about it, guiltier, if it hadn’t been a great fucking deposition.
Natalie handled the entire thing so incredibly well.
I wanted to celebrate, longed to pick her up, twirl her around the room, and then set her down on this table so I could drop my face between her legs and taste what I’d been touching all morning.
She deserved that. She deserved so much more than that, and I desperately wanted to give it to her.
Natalie looked at me once Korey’s lawyer left, dazed and sort of awed. As though she could read my mind, could see what I wanted to do to her, like my thoughts were written all over my face. Her pupils were blown, her breathing shallow.
“Cameron,” she breathed. “I—”
She paused, licked her lips, lifting her gaze to mine. Then she lowered her eyes again, looking at my hand, the one that had been touching her. She stared at it like she wanted to will it back onto her body.
Adrenaline pumped in my veins, and I could see the way it pulsed in her neck, too, right in that spot I’d sucked before, brandished with my tongue that night in the bar.
Swallowing a groan, I shook my head.
Not here.
We couldn’t talk here, couldn’t even look at each other here in this fishbowl of a room.
“Come on,” I murmured and took off for my office.